Article 35 of
the organic charter of the National Bank of Belgium guarantees the
confidentiality of the data reported to the National Bank of Belgium under
legal or regulatory provisions. Where data are not communicated under such
provisions, the duty to ensure confidentiality arises from the contractual
obligations assumed by the National Bank of Belgium.

All changes in methodology are documented at the time of the data release. Methodological changes are generally described in Dette Publique, an annual report of the Debt agency (Federal Public Service Finance - Treasury).

Central government debt is defined as the stock of recognized direct liabilities of the federal government in the form of securities, loans and deposits. The data used are organized for analytical purposes using the system of definitions and classification of instruments used by the Treasury (Belgian debt agency of the SPF Finances/FOD Financiën) in its official monthly statement.

The central government debt statistics cover all liabilities of the central government (Treasury component of the Federal government) and are consistent with the statistics on the central government transactions described on the DSBB page. The central government units relate exclusively to the federal government and not the state governments (i.e., the communities and the regions), local governments (i.e., the provinces, towns and municipalities) or the social security funds.

The statistics published on central government debt are broken down: by currency, euros (Belgian francs, prior to 1999) or foreign currencies (with a breakdown by currency) and by original maturity (i.e., for a term up to one year and more than one year). They cover standardized products such as Linear bonds, State notes (original maturity exceeding one year) and Treasury certificates (maturity less than one year), and tailor-made products such as bonds issued within Euro medium term notes (EMTN) programs (original maturity exceeding one year), Belgian Treasury bills (original maturity mostly less than one year) and Treasury Bonds-Silver funds. Also published are data on the "Assets of private parties held by the Post Cheque Office", which is a part of the central government's short-term debt as well as loans granted to the Treasury which cover bilateral loans granted by other unit of the general government, other public bodies outside general government and monetary financial institutions (including repo's and collateral deposits), intergovernmental loans (between Treasuries) and long term loans agreement aimed at professional investors for significant amount (Schuldschein). Schuldschein (or debt certificates) considered as loans in the classifications of instruments. A full description of those products is available on the website of the Belgian debt agency (BDA (www.debtagency.be) ).

The central government debt data are valued at face value except for Treasury certificates, which are valued at discounted interest rates. Accrued interest is not taken into account except for loans with capitalized interest and for accrued interest on loans approaching maturity, which are exchanged for loans with more distant maturities. The Treasury Bonds held by the Fonds de viellissement /Zilverfonds (zero-coupon bonds) are recorded at discounted value, revalued once year, in December, for accrued interest.

The factors that may result in a change in the stock of debt other than government net borrowing and/or revaluation of the foreign currency component of government debt are principally the change in the portfolio of Treasury certificates held by the IMF, debt assumption which do not give rise to movements of funds, the consolidation of accrued interest on loans close to maturity which are exchanged for loans with more distant maturities and issue or exchange differences when the loans are not issued or exchanged at par. In 1996 and 1998 the Government allocated, for the redemption of its foreign currency debt, capital gains obtained by the central bank as a result of arbitrages of assets in gold against foreign currencies, without these capital gains having influenced its financing requirement.

The data for central government debt compiled and published by the Federal Public Service Finance (Treasury) on a monthly basis do not correspond to the concept and definition of General government financing operations of the balance which are based on the ESA2010 definitions and classifications.

The central government debt statistics cover all financing operations of the central government Treasury and are consistent with the statistics on central government operations described on the DSBB page. Data are published on a gross basis, calculated monthly by the Federal Public Service Financeand expressed in millions of euros. The statistics cover the central government (Federal State) debt excluding the guaranteed debt and are consistent with the monthly Treasury's Official debt statement.

The statistics are broken down to show the debt in euro (Belgian francs until 1998) and in foreign currencies (with a detail by currency) and by original maturity ( i.e ... for a term of more or less than a year). A detailed by financial products is also available.

Every month, when the debt situation is available, the Federal Public Service Finance issues a succinct press release and, few weeks after, a more detailed press release describing the debt situation and trend. Press releases and publications of the Belgian debt agency (Federal Public Service Finance - Treasury administration) as well as detailed data are available on their website

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